What happened to you?
by tvfan69
Summary: Weeks after Karai was mutated Donnie has finally finished another batch of retromutagen. But it seems that every time the turtles get Karai back they soon lose her again. Will they be able to save her before it's too late? Or will their family be forever broken?
1. Finding Karai

_Where could she be?_

That was all Leo had been thinking since they started looking for Karai about a week ago. Donnie had finally finished another batch of retomutagen after almost a month of gathering samples of mutagen every time they fought the Kraang. Anyways now all they needed to do was find her, if they could find her they could cure her and everything would be ok, they could be a family again.

But nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

It was well past midnight and Leo was debating on whether or not to call it a night and once again return home without his sister. He cringed when his mind came to that; he hated the thought of it. Splinter pretended he didn't know what they were doing. He pretended he didn't come out of his room when they returned each night to see if they had been successful and said that he did it simply to confirm that it indeed was his children who had entered the lair. But they all knew. They all knew that it had broken his heart when his daughter was mutated into a nearly mindless serpent and that he only wanted her safe. Anyways as the four brothers jumped from roof to roof scanning the city streets below Mikey interrupted the silence of the night.

"Over there!" He exclaimed as everyone came to a stop. They fallowed the finger Mikey pointed just in time to see a purple and white scale covered tail slip around the corner of an abandoned factory building across the street.

Leo nodded to the other's signaling them that they were going. They hurried down the fire escape of the building they were on and darted across the street. Mikey went to one side of the building and Raph to the other while Leo and Donnie went to the roof. Mikey and Raph didn't bother with stealth, they didn't want to take her by surprise and scare her; they weren't here for a fight. Hearing their footsteps Karai turned around fast as lightning only to see the red and orange masked turtles emerging cautiously from the shadows.

"Easy Karai it's us" Raph said trying to keep her from attacking, she had recognized Splinter when she was first mutated, hopefully she would recognize them.

"Donnie finished the retomutagen, we can help you" Mikey told her.

Curious about something Raph looked at the mutant in front of him a little more closely, or more focused anyways, he didn't dare take one step closer.

But something seemed off about her. Her face seemed pale, or as pale as a snake could be anyway. Also he wasn't sure how high off the ground her upper body normally rose but she looked like she was closer to the ground than she should've been. Then there were her eyes. Her jade green eyes held no anger or defense, just something that looked like fear and desperation.

"Hey guys, she's not looking to good" Raph called to Donnie and Leo who came down from the roof.

The two turtles that landed from the roof walked a little closer to Karai who backed up only to bump against a dumpster.

"Raph's right, I don't know where she's been but she looks pretty sick" Donnie said upon seeing what Raph was talking about, there was clearly something wrong with Karai.

"Can we still change her back?" Leo asked desperately hoping that Donnie would say yes. Sick or not they had finally found her and clearly she needed them, they had to help her.

"Can't hurt" Donnie said with a shrug but still waited for Leo to give him the order to do it, even though he knew he would.

Leo took half a step closer to Karai who for whatever reason looked terrified. There was defiantly something wrong with her. Karai, even and probably especially a mutated Karai didn't scare easily and if she was afraid she attacked her fears. Faced them and never showed her fear for even a second.

"Karai it's me. It's Leo. It's ok, everything's going to be ok" Leo said to her a whisper of a voice. He then nodded to Donnie who held up his spray bottle of retomutagen.

"Ok Karai hold still" he said as he aimed it at her then sprayed.

Everyone held their breath, so nervous that this wasn't going to work despite having seen it change Mr. O'Neil back to his normal self a few months ago. Sure enough much to everyone's relief the snake before them changed into the Karai they all knew, or sort of anyways. Yes it was Karai, human Karai. But she knelt there in tears as everyone wondered what exactly had happened to her in the last few weeks.

"Karai its ok you're ok" Leo said quietly as he got to his knees in front of her and tried to get a look at her face. Despite having been returned to a human something was clearly still wrong with her. Her face was a little paler than it should've been but her cheeks and eyes were beginning to turn red from crying. Her bangs were stuck by sweat to her forehead and maybe what scared Leo the most was that when she looked at him in her eyes he saw nothing, it was as if she didn't even recognize him.

"Karai?" He asked hoping for a response but she didn't give one, it was like she didn't even hear him.

"I think she might be in some kind of shock, we should get her to the lair fast" Donnie said as Leo began to try and calm her down, the last thing they needed was for her to start screaming and catch the attention of somebody when they tried to bring her home.

"Hey Karai it's alright. Come on we're going to take you home" he said as he gently put his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her.

He rubbed his hands up and down slowly on her arms whispering to her. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against his sister's as ran his hands down her arms and incased her hands inside of his own.

"Shh shush, shush, shush it's alright" he whispered, "everything's going to be alright".

The other three just stood behind Leo in silence. Karai looked like she didn't know what was going on, it was almost as if her body was responding to the situation but her mind was asleep. But they stood in silence because Leo knew Karai better than any of them and if anyone was going to get through to her it was him.

Leo stayed there on his knees, he could just feel the heat of her forehead against his own, and it crossed his mind that she probably had a fever. As her already slow tears began to stop and her hiccup like breathing became a bit steadier Leo knew that she was starting to calm down.

"There, see you're ok" he said becoming relieved that maybe she was getting a better grasp on reality.

"Can you tell me what happened to you?" he whispered to her, his better judgment told him not to ask but he had to know. What could've done this to her? It was hard to tell if she was sick or just afraid or if it was a mixture of the two but one thing was clear and that was that she had clearly been through something traumatizing recently, aside from her mutation. Suddenly Leo was afraid, what if it was her mutation that did this to her? What if she had been like this ever since the warehouse? He shook his head; they had to get her home. That was all they needed to worry about right now. If they got her home then Donnie could figure out what exactly was wrong with her.

When Karai once again reacted by not reacting, like she hadn't even heard the question, Leo didn't push her. She was calmer and that was all that mattered.

"Ok, that's ok. We're going home now alright? Do you want to go home?" Leo asked and glanced up surprised that when he asked if she was ready to go home she gave a small nod.

With a smile Leo got to his feet "ok come on" he said holding out a hand to help her up but she didn't move.

She didn't move and she didn't even look up, she just continued to stare absently down at the pavement below her as if she was completely unaware of what was going on around her. Gently Leo put a hand on her arm and pulled her to her feet. At first Leo tried to lead her along as they walked back to the lair but it was almost like she was sleepwalking and they had a relatively long walk ahead of them, not to mention it would be faster if they traveled on the rooftops. So before they even got to the front of the building they were currently behind Leo picked up Karai in favor of carrying her back to the lair and saving everyone some time.

* * *

By the time they got back to the lair Karai had fallen asleep. It was hard for Leo to tell when exactly she fell asleep as she kept opening and closing her eyes the whole way back, as if she had been trying to keep herself awake but just couldn't. Clearly though she had given into her body and drifted off before they made it home and when they did Leo immediately laid her on the couch. He felt the lump in his throat the second they entered the lair, he silently prayed that for once Splinter wouldn't come to see if they had found her. But he knew he would and sure enough just as Leo finished setting Karai down he did.

"Mikey go get a cold cloth" Donnie ordered his younger brother as he headed for his lab.

Upon hearing that and seeing Leonardo standing over the couch Master Splinter made his way down to the pit.

"What happened?" He questioned scanning the room to make sure none of the boys were hurt, but then his eyes made it to the couch.

"Miwa" he gasped in a heartbroken voice, his daughter lay on their couch asleep and returned to her human form. A part of him felt relief at the sight of this and another part of him took in the sight of Leonardo's worried face and the sound of Donatello asking Michelangelo for a cool washcloth and the fact that his daughter was indeed asleep.

Donnie soon appeared with a blanket and draped it over his sister as Mikey finally got over there with the washcloth.

"She's going to be fine Sensei. Hopefully she'll be able to tell us what happened to her once she wakes up" Donnie reassured as he sat down on the edge of the couch and placed a hand on Karai's head to confirm she had a fever before placing the cloth on her head. He would've preferred to use a thermometer but if she were to wake up in a panic the last thing they needed was her choking on a thermometer.

He gave the cloth to Splinter who he knew was planning on staying there then returned to his lab, the other three fallowed.

"Good to know you're sure that she'll wake up" Raph said once the door to the lab was securely closed and Splinter would not hear them.

"She will wake up Raph" Leo said almost in a defensive way, he refused to believe she wouldn't.

"But what if she's the same as she was when we found her?" He continued now turning to Donnie who shook his head.

"I don't think that will be a problem, by the time she wakes up her body will have snapped out of the shock" Donnie explained and Leo nodded relieved to hear that Donnie wasn't fudging the truth with Splinter and that Karai really would be ok.

They just had to wait.


	2. Waking up

It was around seven when Karai woke up. Her body bolted up into a sitting position so fast that by the time she opened her eyes she was already sitting. She let out a gasp as she sat up and began to catch her breath trying to process where she was. She had only been awake for a second when she felt a hand, or rather a paw, on her shoulder gently pushing her back down.

"Calm down Miwa, it's alright you are home now" a voice said, her father's voice.

Karai panted both because she was hot and because she was scared. What happened to her? And more importantly how did she get back here? Surely the guys hadn't been stupid enough to bring her back here, what if she attacked them? Sure she had been working on controlling her mutation ever since it happened and she was confident that she would be ok around them but they didn't know that. But had she even seen the guys since being mutated? The last few weeks, particularly the past two days, were suddenly a blur. As her father allowed her to sit up halfway and she began to calm her racing mind she realized that something was different. Ahead of her she saw the end of blue couch and next to her sitting in a chair waiting patiently for her to calm down was her rodent father wearing his usual dark red robe. On top of her lay a tattered blue blanket with the image of a yellow duck. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't mistaken, she hadn't seen color's in weeks. All her stupid snake eyes could see was fuzzy black and white blurs, only when she was close to something could she see it clearly.

"Donatello completed another cure for the mutagen. Your brothers found you last night and were able to save you" Splinter explained to his daughter who was clearly confused by her current situation.

"I, I'm not a mutant?" She asked finally catching her breath. Her eyes widened at the sound of her voice, it wasn't scratchy like it had been the past few weeks. It was her normal voice and she was seeing in color again, she had her human eyes back, it was true. She was fully human.

"No my daughter, you are human once more" Splinter confirmed for her.

A great sense of relief washed over Karai, it was over. The nightmare she'd been living for the past few weeks was finally over. She was back to normal; she no longer had to worry about hurting her family.

"I'm sorry" she finally said looking down with an expression of guilt. "You warned me about revenge and I didn't listen. I'm sorry" she continued and Splinter smiled a small smile as he rested his paw on his daughter's shoulder.

"Apology accepted. Now get some rest, you had a fever when the boys brought you home last night" Splinter instructed his daughter who obeyed and lay down sure she wasn't going to fall back asleep but not knowing what she would do if she got up she decided to at least try.

Splinter left and she lay there wide awake, trying to remember what had happened after she was mutated. She believed what her father said about her having a fever, she defiantly felt sick. She felt worse than she had in a long time, not only was it clear that she had a fever and not to mention a headache but she was also trying not to focus on the fact that she was starting to feel like she may throw up.

_Probably just side effects of the retomutagen_

But something in the back of her mind was telling her that wasn't it and the hope that it was would be more of a desperate prayer. Something had happened to her, she knew that much, but she couldn't remember what.

Realizing that simply lying on the couch trying to remember wasn't going to help she decided to get up and find one of the turtles, maybe they could tell her something. She sat up and threw off the blanket, cringing when in doing so her knuckles scraped against her ankle and a stinging pain overtook her skin.

"What the?" She wondered aloud as she carefully rolled up her pant leg, not one hundred percent sure she even wanted to know what had caused the pain.

Exposing the skin of her ankle revealed that there was hardly any skin left to expose. Almost her entire ankle was covered in a deep red burn. Hesitantly Karai removed one of her gloves and touched her bare hand to the burn. It hurt but when she removed her hand she saw no blood on her fingers, the blood on her ankle was old and dry.

"You alright?" A voice asked and instantly Karai snapped her head up to see Leo coming from behind her.

"Fine" she answered quickly as she yanked her pants leg back down, not caring about the pain caused by the fabric rubbing against the burn.

Leo of course knew she was lying but he let it go for now and hopped down landing next to her on the couch.

"So what happened to you, you weren't exactly yourself when we found you last night" he explained to her after asking his question.

"I don't know, I can't remember anything" she said with a sigh but Leo nodded understandingly, Mr. O'Neil hardly has any memory of his time as mutant.

A long moment passed between the two filled with nothing but silence. Karai was anxiously trying to find a way of asking Leo what kind of condition she had been in when they found her but she couldn't. If she had been feeling better she wouldn't bother asking, she would just be grateful to be herself again. But she couldn't shake this feeling that something was making her sick, something bad had happened to her recently and she needed to tell them, she just couldn't remember what. She had a pretty terrifying guess as to what it could be but she wouldn't dare say it out loud unless she was sure it was correct. Besides that same thing in the back of her mind was telling her that this guess also wasn't right, much to her relief.

"Well you look better" Leo finally said

Karai nodded "yeah I'm sure I'm fine" she said lying through her teeth but she hoped that maybe the lie could be true, maybe she would be fine.

But less than an hour later, although she tried, she could no longer deny that she wasn't.


	3. Sick

Karai knew she was lucky when she got up and none of the guys saw that she fell right back down at first but her luck soon ran out when Mikey found her in the bathroom throwing up and called Leo who made her go to the lab and see Donnie.

"So I got a little sick, big deal it's nothing serious" she tried to convince them as Donnie looked at the thermometer she had just spit out, she still had a fever of course so that wasn't helping her argument.

"You know you were in some kind of shock last night to the point we're Leo had to carry you home, I wouldn't say it's nothing serious" Donnie said with a frown but Karai rolled her eyes.

She knew it probably was something serious but she was hoping that whatever it was she could figure it out for herself and handle it without anyone ever finding out.

"Well then I've gotten better" she said trying to convince Donnie to let her go

"Maybe but even before we changed you back you weren't looking to good, I think something might have happened to you before we found you" Donnie explained but of course Karai already knew something had happened to her, she just didn't know what.

"Can you remember anything at all?" Leo asked

Karai closed her eyes and sighed with a look Leo knew, the look of guilt she had when she confessed to Tiger Claw tracking her, she had been hiding something.

"Right before Stockman put the snake DNA in the mutagen he knocked some other chemical into it, I think it was his own retromutagen because after I was mutated I was able to change back and forth from snake to human" she confessed.

Donnie and Leo just stared at her for second, trying to comprehend what she had just said.

"Amazing" Donnie finally exclaimed

"Wait so you were able to turn back into a human at will and not only did you choose to be a snake but you didn't come back here?" Leo questioned not as impressed as Donnie. He couldn't believe it, after everything they'd been through why would Karai choose to leave them?

"It's not like I had a lot of control over it, I didn't want to come back until I did." She explained to him, if she had control over her 'shape shifting' she would've stayed in her human form and come back to the lair but that wasn't the case.

"But if you were mutated with retromutagen, even Stockman's version, then you should've been immune to it, it shouldn't have changed you back" Donnie said but Karai only shrugged, she didn't know why it had worked but she didn't care, it worked and that was all she needed to know.

"Well Stockman doesn't have April's DNA, maybe since your version actually works it over powered Stockman's" Leo suggested to which Donnie considered but asked Karai for a sample of her DNA anyways.

As Donnie looked at the sample under his microscope Karai sat there on the medical bed holding her breath. She didn't know why she was so nervous, she knew she was ok. Apart from this mysterious illness that is but she knew that she was fully human. After all she no longer felt like a mutant and mentally she felt like her old self, she was fully aware of everything around her, it wasn't a struggle to remember her family and who she was or her past. Actually almost forgetting her past was beginning to feel more like a blessing now that she remembered clearly, she had almost been able to forget Shredder.

"This, this is incredible!" Donnie finally exclaimed but despite his obvious excitement Karai felt her heart freefall into her stomach

_Please let him think it's incredible because I'm normal when I shouldn't be_ she prayed

"What is it?" Leo asked suddenly nervous but he also had an odd sense of hope that maybe Donnie had found an explanation for Karai's shock last night and now her being sick.

"Because you were mutated with a hint of Stockman's retromutagen my retromutagen only weakened your mutation!" He exclaimed clearly oblivious to the fear written all over both Leo and Karai's faces.

Leo glanced at Karai who was beginning to look like she may throw up again. He thought he understood Donnie but she looked like she had before being mutated, she looked normal.

"Can you explain that again?" He asked hoping Donnie would be a little clearer this time.

Donnie gave a sigh, why did no one understand things the first time he said them?

"My retromutagen only weakened her mutation. You said you didn't have a lot of control over changing back and forth?" He asked and Karai gave a small nod

"I was working on it" she said, that was pretty much the only thing she did remember about the past few weeks, trying desperately to control what form she was in.

"Well with your snake DNA weakened you should have full control over it, can you change into a snake?" He asked.

Karai glanced down afraid of what would happen if she even tried but she would. She wouldn't show her fear, she wouldn't let them know how freaked out by all of this she really was so she obeyed what Donnie wanted and focused on changing form. Much to her alarm she felt herself transform into the serpent she never once wished to be and when she opened her eyes the world around her was once again black, white and blurry. To her relief however it wasn't the same as it had been before, she was still fully sentient of everything happening around her and of her own actions; she could completely control herself just like she could as a human. Still the fear of losing control plagued her mind and even with the knowledge that she was still half snake the fear was not nearly as strong when in her human form so she changed back after being a snake for only a few seconds.

Once back to normal she saw her two brothers staring at her with eyes wide but they soon moved past it

"So did her DNA tell you what's wrong with her?" Leo asked Donnie who was about to answer him but he was cut off by Karai

"There is nothing wrong with me, I'm fine!" She exclaimed wondering why she was even bothering, she knew she was lying and so did they but something in her nature kept fighting, kept telling her that she could still deal with it alone.

Leo gave her a look then turned back to Donnie

"No, I'd need to do a blood test" he answered, both turtles ignoring Karai as if she were a young child.

Karai tried to argue but eventually ended up letting Donnie take some of her blood, she winced slightly when the needle entered her arm and afterwards was simply grateful he let her leave.

* * *

Mikey and Raph were informed of what Donnie had discovered about Karai and it was Raph who found her folding up the blanket Donnie had placed over her last night, he couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

"That's what April did too, her first morning here" he said causing Karai to look up and see him coming. She gave a small shrug as she placed the folded up blanket at the foot of the couch

"Just something to do I guess" she muttered not really sure what to say, Raph and her still don't have the best relationship. He helped rescue her which had come as a surprise to everyone but the two were still warming up to each other so it surprised her when he started talking to her instead of walking right past her, it was kind of pathetic but that day she had been here weeks ago they had pretty much ignored each other.

"Are you feeling any better?" He asked; he was genuinely concerned after last night.

Karai glared at him annoyed "no I'm not. I can barely remember anything about the last three and a half weeks, the past forty-eight hours are a total blank, I'm sick to my stomach, I'm half snake and I can't shake this feeling that during the time I can't remember something bad happened to me!" She exclaimed, she didn't mean to say all this to Raph but she was so frustrated with everything that it just came pouring out.

"What do you think happened?" He asked completely unfazed by her sudden outburst

Karai crossed her arms over her stomach nervously "I don't know, but I know it's the reason I was apparently in shock last night and the reason I feel like a piece crap now" she confessed fearfully.

By now she knew lying was pointless and after all the guys are her family; her brothers. She didn't have to be brave for herself anymore, she was so afraid that whatever was happening to her was eventually going to kill her and much to her horror that was the one paranoia induced theory that the tiny thing in the back of her mind which held some sort of memory didn't say was wrong. For once she just wanted to confess how afraid she was but in trying to she realized she had actually forgotten how to express fear to people. She wanted to cry but when she spoke she heard no break in her voice, she felt the need to just break down in tears but the muscles in her face remained calm and the only thing she felt was a sob caught in her throat which refused to be let out. For so long she had handled fear by silently sobbing alone in her room, and when she said silent she meant silent. Karai could not recall the last time a sound other than a sniffle had escaped her when she cried; she didn't cry much, she hardly ever had a fear strong enough to make her. But when she did, even from the time she was a little girl, she never wanted to be heard. So she had always waited until she was alone and now she found that she couldn't even bring herself to say that she was scared.

Raph could tell that she was holding something back; however he didn't know that it wasn't on purpose. But Karai and him aren't so different; they both keep their softer side hidden away in a place where no one can find it under lock and key, and the key is hidden just as carefully. So he understood why she seemed to be awkwardly stuttering around the subject of her apparent amnesia, she was terrified and did not know how to express it. He gave her credit for trying though; he would've just shouted until whoever was talking to him left him alone and if they didn't he would've stomped away angrily. Then again where could she stomp away to? She spent the night on the couch and weeks ago when she spent less than half the night in the lair she slept in a small unused closet in the dojo, had she stayed they would've spent the next day cleaning out the spare room which wasn't far from Raph's own room.

"Uh Karai your nose is bleeding" he informed her noticing the thin trail of blood running onto her lip.

Karai gave him a weird look, she hadn't had a nosebleed since she was three years old and was hit a little too hard in a training session. But she removed her glove and ran the side of her hand underneath her nose and pulled it away to see the bright red blood against her pale white skin.

"That's just great" she said with a groan before heading to the kitchen to get a paper towel.

* * *

After a few hours April arrived at the lair and she brought some street clothes if Karai wanted them. She did want them of course, her clothes were a filthy mess from weeks on the street without a change but she was hesitant because April had brought a pair of shorts. Shorts obviously meant that the burn on her ankle would be noticeable and Karai wasn't sure if she wanted the guys to see it until she could explain how she got it. But her need to get out of what she was currently wearing overruled her worry about the burn and she thanked April for the clothes before changing. Sure enough it didn't take long for Mikey to point out the patch of red above her foot

"How did you get that?" He asked and Karai frowned

"How many times are you guys going to ask me what's happened before you realize that I don't know?" She asked annoyed instead of answering but Donnie eyed her curiously

"Did you have that before you were mutated?" He asked but Karai shook her head

"No" she said and Donnie frowned

"That looks like a burn from a Kraang blaster" he said and when he said that something inside of Karai's mind clicked.


	4. Remembering

_Come on come on_

Karai was beginning to wonder why she still bothered, no matter how hard she tried every time she opened her eyes it was the same black and white blurs and no matter how many time she moved her tongue it felt like the same fork shape hitting against her sharp fang like teeth. Frustrated she let out a groan which sounded to be more of a hiss, what she wouldn't give to be fully human again. Suddenly she heard something entering the alley so she transformed back into a snake before she could be seen, she had learned that it was best for people to stumble upon her in her snake form instead of a human with reptilian eyes and fangs. She let out a terrifying hiss which should've sent any human running, but this was no human.

The next thing Karai could remember she was waking up in this big room which was entirely white. She tried to move only to discover that she was strapped into a chair by metal restraints. Smirking she shifted into her human form thinking that she could slip out of the restraints which were obviously built for a large serpent but strangely when she changed the restraints were just as tight.

"Do not bother trying to escape, the restraints will adjust to whatever it is that they hold" a robotic voice called, Karai could only see the blurry outline of a person but she knew that it wasn't a person, it was a Kraang droid. She hissed at the alien who explained that the Kraang had seen her shape shifting, her mutation was different than any other and they wanted her DNA to try and make more mutations like it.

Karai of course refused to cooperate but after hours of trying to extract her DNA the robot gave up, probably tired her spitting venom into his alien face. So the giant needle on the ceiling was brought down and loaded with some kind of chemical

"Once the one known as Karai becomes what is known as dead Kraang will extract the DNA from the body which once belonged to the one known as Karai" The robot said doing as much gloating as an alien who barely knows what he's saying can do.

_Great, just great _Karai thought to herself as she transformed back into a serpent hoping that maybe the needle wouldn't be able to get through scales as easily as it could skin.

As the needle was lowered closer to her she looked around frantically trying to find a way out when she saw it, the control panel. It was far but she knew her venom could get some decent distance so she tried desperately to hit it. She kept missing, she had good aim but it was too far and she kept falling short. The closer the needle came to her head the harder Karai tried to hit the control panel and finally just as she felt the piercing prick of the needle penetrate the scales on the side of her head she hazily saw her last stream of venom short out the controls.

When the restraints opened up and released her Karai just fell to the floor.

_I have to get out of here_

She slithered away as fast as possible trying to find a way out of the building. A loud beeping began and Karai wished she could run faster than she could slither because she really wanted her hands to block her ears with right about now. But she had to keep moving, the Kraang were chasing her and if she stopped for even a second she'd be dead, not that she wasn't already dying thanks to that chemical. She let out a loud hiss in agony when she felt the sting of a Kraang blaster shooting her tail but it only made her go faster. Finally she reached the entrance of the building and forced her way through the doors, disappearing down the first alley she saw. Had she been thinking clearly she probably would've dove underground into the sewer's and made her way to the lair. She would've turned herself human upon getting there and tried to explain what happened, but her mind was too clouded to think of that. So she made it back to the abandoned factory she had spent the last few weeks hiding behind. By the time she got there her head was spinning, at this rate it seemed that the poison was going to take less than an hour to kill her. Just then she heard something and spun around, fearing it was the Kraang.

"Easy Karai it's us" a voice came; Karai was trying to see its owner clearly but everything around her was more of a blur than usual.

"Donnie finished the retromutagen, we can help you" another voice said. Donnie. Suddenly she realized that the voices belonged to Raph and Mikey.

She wanted to tell them what happened, but the poison was taking its toll. She couldn't speak, she wanted to but her mind wouldn't process the words. She thought to change into her human form but suddenly she couldn't remember how. More voices came, Donnie's and Leo's.

"Karai it's me. It's Leo. It's ok, everything's going to be ok" Leo said to her, his voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. No, everything isn't going to be ok. She'd be dead in a matter of minutes and she couldn't even tell them.

"Ok Karai hold still" Donnie's voice came right before she felt something wet on her scales.

She opened her eyes slightly as she cried. She didn't know why she was crying or why she felt sick to her stomach, suddenly she didn't remember anything.

"Karai?" She heard someone whisper but she didn't respond, all she could do was cry.

She felt something gently pressing against her forehead and her eyes were opened just enough to see Leo kneeling in front of her, she kept her head down as he took her hands. He whispered something to her but she couldn't make it out, she was beginning to lose consciousness.

_No stay awake _her mind said so she continued to cry thinking that if she kept crying then she wouldn't fall asleep, or worse.

Eventually she began to find herself calming down, whether it was her giving into her body or her beginning to trust that bad nothing was going to happen to her she didn't know, but she heard Leo's last question.

"Do you want to go home?" He asked in a whisper. She nodded her head yes, she wanted nothing more than to go home.

But that was when she began to black out. She felt a three fingered hand gently grab her by the arm and pull up so she got to her feet. She stumbled around fighting desperately to keep her eyes open but she soon felt an arm on the back side of her knees as her feet left the ground. She managed to open her eyes for a second to see that she was in Leo's arms but then her eyes closed again.

_Come on stay awake. You're going home now, don't you want to see father? _That thought woke her up but she soon found herself fighting sleep once again and at some point she gave in.

...

She remembered, she remembered everything. Well actually most of the time was still a blur but Karai was sure that if she really wanted to remember it she could but what was important is that the hours of the past two days in which she had been conscious had returned to her memory, and it terrified her. The poison, shouldn't she be dead? Well she started to tell the other's what happened but halfway through her explanation she got another bloody nose, a bad one, so she finished her story kneeling over the toilet with the toilet paper she held to her nose continuously soaking through with blood and the bathroom door open.

Once she finished Donnie raced to his lab to see if the blood sample he had taken from her earlier was done in his analyzer. The three turtles and two girls waited anxiously for Donnie to come back, the only sound coming from the bloody clumps of toilet paper being flushed down the toilet every few minutes.

"Wait a minute; we live in the sewer so where does it go when we flush the toilet?" Raph asked from the bathroom doorway where he and Mikey stood, causing Leo to roll his eyes. Sure Karai might be on her death bed and Raph was concerned with the pipes.

"Who cares Raph?" Leo asked honestly just annoyed with younger brother

"Um should somebody tell Splinter about any of this?" April butted in from where she was standing leaning against the shower stall, she hated to tell Splinter that he may be about to lose his daughter for the third time but that's the reality of the situation and she felt that maybe he should know.

Karai on the other hand whipped her head around in anger "no, unless somebody finds me lying dead on the floor nobody tells him" she said, her voice muffled through the toilet paper. She probably shouldn't have snapped the way she did but the last thing that she wanted to do was worry her father.

"Hey Donnie told you to keep your head still" Leo scolded placing his hand atop his sister's head and turning it back to the toilet, he couldn't see her face but it wouldn't have surprised him if she were giving him the evil eye.

"And we are not going to wait until we find your dead body to tell Splinter" he continued to which Karai wanted to argue but that was when Mikey interrupted the conversation.

"Cause it's not going to get that far, you'll be fine" the youngest turtle said seeming to be looking for reassurance from somebody, anybody.

Unlike the others Mikey doesn't hide his feelings. He's not like Karai who wouldn't say that she was so afraid that she wasn't sure how much of the sickness was from the poison and how much was just from fear; however she had panicked when she realized that her nose was taking longer than five minutes to stop bleeding. He wasn't like Leo who put on a brave face because he was the leader and the oldest or Raph who won't admit that he cares about Karai and acts like if he can help her he will but it won't affect him if she's gone; an act which everyone could see right through. He couldn't be like Donnie who had disappeared to find a scientific answer to this or even April who was somehow capable of not showing even the slightest fear that this was going to end badly. No not Mikey, Mikey needed to be reassured that everything was going to be ok, he could tell himself it would all he wanted but it would only help if he heard it from someone else.

Karai grunted as the blood from her nose finally began to come to a stop

"I hope you're right Mikey" she said flushing the now red water of the toilet.

"Oh good your all in here" Donnie's voice said revealing that he had joined Raph and Mikey in the doorway. Everyone turned to him of course, praying that he had good news but that look of dread on his face made it clear, he didn't.

"I found traces of the poison in the blood sample but it looks like the Kraang didn't give you a strong enough dose to kill you immediately" Donnie explained as Karai finally got off her knees

"And by immediately you mean that they did give me enough to kill me?" She asked wishing he would just say so if she was in fact going to die.

The purple banded turtles sighed "unfortunately yes, but it's going to take a few more hours and in that time I think I can make an antidote" he said causing Karai's eyes to widen just a bit.

"You can?" She asked, she hoped he could do it, she hoped he could save her.

"I think so" Donnie said with a nod


	5. From bad to worse

Karai refused to let the others tell Splinter, no matter how much they told her that he had a right to know that his oldest child and only daughter could be dead within a few hours. She knew that they were right but she didn't want to worry him, Donnie could have an antidote ready before the poison took her and if that were the case then she really saw no need to tell her father. However she did agree when Leo said that if anything happened, if she took a bad turn before the antidote was ready or if Splinter started getting too suspicious they would tell him.

Despite the fact that they knew what was happening Karai still tried to hide as much as she could from her brothers. She stayed put on the couch as long as she could, she figured it wouldn't raise any suspicions from her father since he knew she was sick, he just didn't know how bad it was. But she stayed there because every time she got up she felt as though her legs were going to collapse, a few times they did. But the worse came when she was lying there watching TV with Mikey sitting on the floor in front of her, she was beginning to get tired but she refused to let herself fall asleep for fear that she would not wake up. Suddenly her stomach turned, she felt the rising bile (which was all that was left in her stomach at this point) against the bones of her ribcage as she shot up to race to the bathroom. Mikey glanced at her but didn't give much thought to it; she had done this at least four times in the past hour. But Karai was halfway to the bathroom when her knees buckled and she wound up taking a face plant into the floor. She just barely managed to prop herself up on her elbow before she ended up vomiting all over the floor. She coughed and gagged painfully as what little bit of liquid she had left in her stomach forced its way up.

"Whoa Karai!" She heard Mikey shout in a panic as he slid to his knees in front of her, trying to avoid the small pool of vomit on the floor.

She tried to pick herself up but she could barely get to her hands and knees, her arms were starting to tremble. She looked up at Mikey but things were becoming blurry, she could just see his concerned face as he knelt there calling for Donnie.

"It's ok Karai, don't freak out you're ok" he tried to assure her but his voice was cracking and tears were welling up in his eyes.

She could feel herself losing consciousness but the touch of her little brother's three fingered hand on her face helped her fight it for a moment.

Mikey lifted Karai's head back up by the side of her chin as he desperately tried to get her to look him the eyes but she wouldn't. Her golden eyes stared right through him as if she were zoning out, he figured that she probably was.

"Come on, come on" he panicked as Donnie finally got there

"What happened?" He asked getting on his knees next to Mikey

"I don't know. She got up and started running for the bathroom when I heard a thud so I turned around and I didn't see her so I stood up and she was on the ground puking her guts out!" He answered sounding nervous.

Karai could feel herself beginning to cry, she felt like she had last night before she lost her memory.

"Help me get her to the lab" Donnie's voice came right before she felt his hand on her arm. He put her arm around his shoulder as he tried to get her up with him to lean on but she couldn't stand.

She wanted to stand but her legs wouldn't listen. The blurry images of the two turtles trying to help her as well as everything around them began to fade to black in Karai's eyes. She could only feel the hand which she assumed belonged to Mikey repeat what Donnie had done with her other arm as the two tried to get her up.

"What's going on?" Another panicked voice asked, Leo's.

Leo hearing the commotion rushed from his room only to find his two youngest brothers trying to pull their sister to her feet. Immediately he rushed over and took her from them, it was obvious that she couldn't stand, heck he wasn't even sure if she were still conscious.

Karai felt herself being moved into Leo's arms as she started coughing and felt something on her tongue. It wasn't sour, bitter or acidic like the vomit. No it was thin and almost tasteless but she knew it was there, like water but just a tiny bit thicker. Had she been awake or even aware she would've questioned it instantly but she didn't, she just continued coughing and just before she lost all consciousness she heard one last thing from Donnie but she couldn't make it out.

Karai began coughing when Leo took her and suddenly a small spurt of blood escaped her lips. He looked up at Donnie in terror who returned the look

"That's it I'm drawing the line, Mikey go get Splinter" he ordered. Mikey rushed from the room more than happy to be out of there, he raced into the dojo and despite not having ran very far he skidded to a stop in the doorway out of breath.

"Master Splinter!" he shouted causing his sensei to come rushing from his room towards his youngest son

"Michelangelo what is it?!" He questioned in a panic hoping that none of his children were hurt.

Mikey then proceeded to quickly explain everything.

...

Meanwhile in the lab Leo practically threw Karai onto the medical bed while Donnie rummaged around his desk for his little flashlight.

"Ok I think she's still alive" he said peering under Karai's eyelids with the light

"You think?" Leo questioned both frightened and angry, he had seen Donnie check the eyes of Raph and Mikey more than once after being knocked out in a fight and he was always sure they were fine, why was now the one time he wasn't sure?

"Well she's alive right now but I don't know how long that will last!" Donnie exclaimed as he rushed back to his desk where he had the antidote synthesizing in the centrifuge.

"Crap" he cursed under his breath; it still needs another twenty minutes.

With a sigh Leo grabbed a paper towel off a table and began wiping the blood off his plastron. He glanced at Karai lying on the medical bed and grabbed another paper towel. He ran this one under the sink inside the lab and rung it out before returning to the side of the bed. With sadness written all over his face he gently used the wet paper towel to wipe the blood from the edges of her mouth and chin, plus the entire left side of her face due to it having pressed up against the blood on him. He carefully wiped the drying red lines which ran down her neck and put the paper towel in the trash bin. He looked back at her, most of the blood stains were gone aside from one on her shirt but she could wash that later. He nodded trying to give himself some hope, she would wash that later.

Just then Master Splinter came rushing in with Raph, Mikey and April not far behind him. The three teenagers stopped in the doorway as Leo moved out of the way so Splinter could stand next to the bed.

"Miwa" he said, his voice sounding even more heartbroken than it had the night before. He brushed his hand up against the side of her face; the kunoichi who the turtles had always assumed spent her nights sleeping with one eye open didn't even flinch.

"The antidote will be ready in fifteen minutes" Donnie said trying to bring some hope to the situation but it did little good. It didn't look like Karai had another fifteen minutes, another five maybe.

"Can't you give her anything that'll slow down the poison?" Raph questioned from the doorway, regardless of his and Karai's basically non-existent relationship he's accepted her as his sister, as family, he wasn't about to let a member of his family die.

Donnie shook his head with a defeated frown "if I could I would've done it hours ago" he said looking at Karai asleep on the medical bed, her breathing was getting more and more shallow. "I'll give her the antidote the second it's done but until then she's on her own" he told them.

Leo looked over at her, she had to make it. She was strong; she woke up this morning she would wake up again, right? Yes she would, she had to. People say that they would walk through hell and back for something they love, well considering everything she's been through in her short life of seventeen years in Leo's eyes at least Karai has already walked through hell, now they're just waiting for her to come back.


	6. Time to set things right

Karai felt as if she was in a dream, she saw and heard everything around her but she felt nothing. She walked down a long dark hallway which she knew all too well, the hallway of the house she used to live in. Filled with curiosity she placed her hand on the edge of the sliding door which lead to her old room and moved it to the side. Inside the room was just as she remembered it, small and bare for the most part but at the other side of the room against the wall was a twin sized bed. She walked closer to the bed being carful of the squeaky boards on the hardwood floor but she didn't know why she was careful, wasn't she alone? No she wasn't, there was someone in the bed. As she approached the side of the bed she saw that underneath the blue blanket lay a little girl, a younger version of herself. The girl lay there with her eyelids drooping as she began drifting off to sleep clutching the blanket in an attempt to keep herself warm. Karai couldn't understand why she, on her the verge of death, was remembering this particular night of her past, although she couldn't remember what happened next it seemed to be just like any other night. The past version of herself in the bed looked to be about eight or nine years old and was curled up into a ball under the blanket with her chin tucked tightly to her chest. Karai could not feel the temperature in the room nor did it hold any place in her memory but it was all too obvious that she was freezing, but so what? There was nothing anybody could do about that. Besides the younger Karai wasn't shivering so she was warm, at least warm enough to sleep.

"I want to go home" the young girl muttered in a soft and tired voice right before her eyes snapped open. Karai, who the past version of herself obviously couldn't see, stared with eyes wide and one hand to her mouth.

"What the? Why would I say that? This is home…this is home" The probably nine year old whispered to herself sitting up a little before curling back into a ball.

But Karai just stood there remembering. Suddenly she was reminded of how as a child every once in a while, and really it was rare, as she was falling asleep that statement would escape her lips only for her to snap awake frightened. She told herself it was nothing. That she had been more asleep than she realized and had begun to dream. That it was merely the beginning of a nightmare she never stayed asleep long enough to see. But now, now that she knew the truth behind her mother's death a new possibility crossed her mind. What if somewhere deep in her subconscious she had kept some faint memory, some knowledge of the truth?

"Do you still want to go home?" A small voice questioned her. Startled Karai turned to see her younger self sitting up in bed waiting for an answer, this was no longer a memory and it had become more of a dream.

"I don't think I can" she sighed sitting down on the side of the bed so the younger girl turned and dangled her feet over the edge of the bed.

"Shredder asked me a question yesterday, I thought I knew the answer until he told me the two choices and my answer wasn't an option" she admitted causing Karai to look at her a little confused but also knowing that her younger self was going somewhere with this.

"What are you going to do?" She asked and Karai hesitated, she didn't know.

"Your choices are go home or run away, that's it. Those are your options" her past self said to her and she nodded, Donnie would cure her but until he did she had to decide what to do and death wasn't one of the choices.

...

The next fifteen minutes seemed to last an eternity for the Hamato family. Mikey sat quietly in a chair with his Gameboy while Donnie kept his eyes glued to the centrifuge. Raph had left the lab in favor of punching the training dummy while Leo and Splinter stood to the side of the bed. April was standing in the doorway but she glanced behind her at Raph in the living room. She wondered if this was a good idea or a total waste of time but she decided to go ahead and turned into the room.

"You want to talk?" She asked approaching Raph who only looked at her for a second before he continued beating the dummy into a pulp.

"Talk about what?" He asked as he hit the dummy until April grabbed its shoulder to stop it.

"Raph we're all worried" She said but he only rolled his eyes, he wasn't exactly an easy turtle to talk to.

"I'm only worried because she's Splinter's daughter" he defended but April knew there was more to it, whether he would admit or not Raph actually cared about Karai. April hated to do this but there was one way she knew to get through to Raph, she'd have to say what they were all terrified of.

"You know she might not wake up, and if she doesn't do you really want her to die thinking you still hate her?" She questioned.

The scowl on Raph's face faded into a look of regret. He sat down right there on the ground suddenly guilt ridden. That night Tiger Claw took her, even after she saved them he still didn't want to go back for her. Yes Mikey was hurt but they could've split up, he and Donnie could've gotten Mikey home while Leo went after Karai. The two of them probably could've escaped Shredder and they could've grabbed April and Casey for help on the way. Or they could've hurried getting Mikey back to the lair and then gone after Karai, it would've only been about ten extra minutes. He remembered when they were racing through the tunnels of the sewer

"Alright princess you got us into this, where to?" He had asked still beyond angry with her

"I, I don't know" she had admitted. Thinking back Raph realized that her voice cracked when she spoke as if she were about to cry, after everything that happened that night if he had kept pestering her she probably would have.

"Raph if she does wake up, fix things" April said to him before making her way back towards the lab.

...

"Done!" Donnie exclaimed hurrying with the test-tube full of antidote over to Karai.

He thanked the heavens that she was still breathing, barely breathing but breathing none the less. He slipped the test-tube between her lips and tilted it up so that the medicine would go down her throat.

"Ok that should work, it still might take her a little while to wake up though" Donnie explained before anyone pointed out the obvious fact that she wasn't waking up.

Even with the antidote ready the nervous pit in Leo's stomach only grew as Donnie gave it to her. Sure it was supposed to save her but what if it doesn't work? Even if it could save her he wasn't exactly sure of how the poison was killing her and who was to say that the damage wasn't already done beyond repair? Leo sighed thinking that poison had to be the worst way to go. Sure it was relatively painless but to have something kill you from the inside out, he cringed at the thought.

...

Choosing to wake up and stay with your family is a lot easier said than done. Karai's dreamlike state soon turned from the somewhat peaceful memory of her old bedroom to another dark hallway, a long, dark, endless hallway. In front of her stood almost an exact clone of herself with the only differences being that this version of her still wore her armor from the Foot Clan along with her mask and did not hide away her reptilian eyes. Now in reality anyone would question this but it was all part of a dream and so without any explanation Karai knew who the clone really was, her darkest side.

"You know I found rather amusing when you turned into a snake, you always have been good at crushing your prey" the clone smirked when suddenly a door Karai hadn't realized was there opened.

"I trusted you!" She heard Leo's voice shout as she watched the memory

"I know, that's messed up right?" Her own voice asked in a taunting tone. The door was then closed and vanished as Karai narrowed her eyes.

"You do realize that I will never give into you right?" Karai asked but her darkest side only giggled

"Of course I do. Not even Shredder could break you, besides if you die I die, and why would I want that?" The dark side asked with fake concern in her voice.

Karai glared at this dark part of her mind "I just want you to consider reality" the clone said and suddenly doors flew open all around her.

Inside each was a memory and all around her Karai could hear her own words of the past

"I don't know, maybe because you look so pathetic!" She spat at her father

"If you won't be silent, I'll silence you" she said about to stab Leo and quite possibly Raph and Mikey before Tiger Claw intervened.

"Tiger Claw is tracking me" she confessed trying to keep herself from crying.

"I want to go home" her faint little voice muttered half asleep.

As those and about a hundred other regrets played loudly mocking her Karai shut her eyes and used her hands to block her ears from the sound but to no avail. She kept hearing it, kept hearing the mistakes from her past swirling around her until at last they stopped. Opening her eyes slowly she saw her darkest side standing there with a smirk on her face.

"Still have the will to hang on?" She asked raising an eyebrow but Karai only gave her a look which despite her exhaustion, could've been capable of shooting daggers.

"Yes" she responded trying to catch her breath.

"Why? Do you really think that your family will forgive you?" The clone asked getting closer but Karai stared her down

"They already have" She spat in the dark sides face. The clone backed up a bit but smirked

"For now maybe, but only because they believe you're Miwa, when you and I both know that Miwa died in the fire" she teased but Karai wouldn't listen.

"What are you talking about? I survived the fire and I'm going to survive this!" Karai exclaimed angrily but once again her darkest side giggled.

"There's your temper again, only more proof that I'm right. You're Shredder's daughter" The dark side teased causing Karai to only grow angrier.

"I am not!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, she was seething with rage and if her body would just listen to her she would attack this representation of her darkest side right now, then again if she were better at the spiritual side of ninjutsu she would know that it was possible to just make the clone like girl disappear.

But her dark side stood there completely unfazed by the shout.

"Come on admit it, Yes your body survived the fire that night but Miwa's spirit died. Miwa died and was replaced with Karai" the clone taunted but Karai shook her head.

"No. No I will never become you!" She shouted at her dark side who looked to be a little taken back but then shook her head amused

"A few more years with Shredder and maybe you would have but then again I don't know any more than you do. Anyways I'm talking about you. Angry, violent, deceitful, grudge holding you, Karai" The clone explained, spitting her name as if it were a curse.

Suddenly the physical representation of her darkest side was gone and Karai was alone, but she knew her dark side was right. Her family hadn't forgiven Karai; they had forgiven Miwa for being tricked into becoming Karai. But it had been so long since she had been Miwa that she truly had no idea who that was. She knew who it should be; it should be sweet, polite, innocent, well-mannered Miwa. But instead she was the person her dark side had described before. Then again her dark side was who Shredder had wanted her to be, someone who enjoyed other people's pain and had a heart of ice. Karai sat on the ground to think, she hated who Shredder had raised her to be but at the same time she didn't really like who she thought Miwa was supposed to be. She let out a sigh, she knew that her father would love her no matter who she was and the same went for her brother's, even Raph.

_Not even Shredder could break you_

Karai nodded remembering what her dark side had said, Shredder couldn't break her because Miwa didn't die when she was replaced with Karai, she was simply locked away and now it was time for her to be set free.


	7. We're cool

After waking up, after feeling that huge relief and after asking her father if she could be called Miwa once again by her family Karai snuck out that night to think. She sat there on the edge of a billboard dangling her feet of the ledge as she thought about the past day. She had seen the lights in her father's eyes when she asked if she could return to her birth name, he had been so happy. She figured that it must have been the first time since before the fire that her father had truly felt that he had her, and after everything she's done she figured she owes him that much. But after coming back from the brink of death her mind began to work properly again, she was back in the real world and not asleep talking to the products of dreams and nightmares. She was starting to wonder if she made the right decision, she never thought that she could truly be Miwa and thought that no matter what she did she would always be Karai. But at the same time she now realized that in the end it's just a name and she was born to Splinter, Shredder's daughter Karai never truly existed; it was like she had just been Miwa playing a part. She groaned trying to explain this relatively simple concept to herself; she was so confused that it wasn't funny.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of someone landing behind her on the other end of the billboard's support beam. She turned her head and had to admit that she was surprised by who she saw.

"I thought Leo would come looking for me before you did" she said trying to be sarcastic but it seemed to fall flat. However Raph still smirked as he walked a little closer and stood over her

"He tried but Splinter wouldn't let him, he wanted to give you some time" he responded taking a seat next to her.

"So where do they think you are?" She asked amused wondering why Raph would come looking for her in the first place never mind against Splinter's orders.

The turtle in the red bandana chuckled "they know I'm here. Leo tried coming after you five minutes after you left, I don't know if you realized it or not but you've been gone for almost an hour. I waited until Leo got in the shower then told Splinter I was just going out to make sure you hadn't dropped dead" he said causing his sister to laugh just a little bit.

"Why did you wait until Leo was in the shower?" She asked but Raph only shrugged

"Didn't want him fallowing me" he answered. It became silent for a moment, both teenagers doing nothing but looking down at their feet and then just when Raph was about to say something Karai, or Miwa as she had asked them to call her, spoke up.

"Have you ever been to the edge of death Raph?" She asked looking him in the eye, she was serious. Raph blinked for a second trying to think

"Not as close as you were" he said with just a hint of a laughter in his voice trying to bring the conversation back to jokes. Jokes were fun, jokes were safe. He didn't know how to apologize for the way he used to treat her but if they were laughing and having fun he could try and she would take it seriously but not seriously enough to think too much about it. However if the conversation was already serious, she would know that it was why he came up here and why he could only apologize if it were just the two of them, if he could even do it then.

But she didn't laugh; she just turned back to the skyline in front of them as if she were thinking on how to say something.

"It's a lot like sleeping. You're dreaming but at some point the time comes for you to choose if you're going to give up or hold on and if you hold on, your dream tries to break you." She explained, her voice becoming darker as she went on. But Raph sat there listening intently.

"It forces you to relieve every mistake you've ever made, you literally come face to face with the absolute darkest part of you and you start to think that you will never be forgiven for your mistakes." She continued to explain as Raph began to get nervous about where this was going but he pushed the thought away, he knew he was just being paranoid.

"It's like you have to prove that your heart is stronger than your mind" She said but then stopped, trying to think of how to say what she wanted to.

"I know you and I don't have the best relationship and you're going to laugh but no matter how bad the nightmare was I held on because even though I knew that father and the rest of the guys would miss me if I died, and believe me I probably could've held on with just that thought. But when I thought of you I wasn't sure if you'd care-" she started to admit but Raph cut her off.

"Alright I'm going stop you right there. Look like you said we don't have the best relationship, I'm aware of that. But we're still family and well I'm sorry for being so hard on you at first, I can't even imagine how hard it must be to go through what you have" he apologized causing Miwa to smile.

"Thanks" she said grateful to hear that from him. Sure she had believed he cared, she had realized that if it had been him who were poisoned she would've been distraught had he died, she hoped that maybe he felt the same way about her. And he did.

After another long silence Raph stood up "I'm going home, you coming?" He asked as Miwa got to her feet

"Yup" she answered fallowing him; right now there was no place she'd rather be.


End file.
